Vladimir Ilich Lenin hardly
needs an introduction: founder of the Russian Communist
Party (Bolsheviks), inspirer and leader of the Bolshevik
Revolution (1917), and the architect, builder and first
head (1917–24) of the Soviet state.

Arguably the century's most significant political leader,
his statue adorned countless cities and towns of the
former Soviet Union. Tovste was no exception.

For many years, a bust of Lenin graced
a small park next to the Roman Catholic church. However
with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Tovste
joined many other towns in shedding the vestiges of
the past.

The statue was unceremoniously hoisted into a cart
which took it to an unknown fate.